This document analyzes the British social realism film Billy Elliot. It discusses how the film addresses real social issues of its time period, such as the British miners' strike of 1984-1985. It also examines how the film uses various cinematic techniques common in the social realism genre, such as establishing shots that show the working class setting and locations. The narrative structure follows Todorov's theory of equilibrium being disrupted by a new development, then recognition of the disruption, followed by acceptance of a new equilibrium. Dialogue is also discussed as an important way the film portrays different social groups and stereotypes of the time period in a realistic manner.

1. Billy Elliot Analysis
Research and Planning: British Social Realism Films

2. Relating to social issues
I decided to analyse this particular film as i believe that it
is very different from the previous film i advertised such
as Kidulthood regarding the characters, location and
storyline however, much like Kidulthood it does share
the codes and conventions of British Social Realism
films. One of the biggest codes and conventions that it
does follow is the fact it uses real issues and stories to
tell. As mentioned before Billy Elliot is set in Northern
England during the miners strike of 1984-5, and was the
period when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and
the government wanted to close a lot of coal mines in
England, Wales and Scotland, the miners went on strike
due to the fear of losing their jobs however, a few years
after it started all the UK coal mines were closed and
thousands of people lost their job. This is a huge thing
that is thought about throughout Billy Elliot which shows
the seriousness of the issues spoken about however,
there is comedy moments throughout through the use of
dialogue and clever editing.

3. Wide Shots
Another code and convention that
Billy Elliot follows is the use of wide
shots and establishing shot which
show the audience where the scene
is set so the audience can see the
characters surrounding area, i think
that this particular shot is very
important throughout the film as his
family would prefer him to box “lads
do football or boxing or wrestling”
where now Billy is ballet dancing
outside the boxing ring where the
ballet dancers rehearse showing the
individuality of Billy which was a real
turning point for young boys and the
society in history.

4. Location shots
 Another wide shot that thought was
interesting was the shot which
shows Billy and his father walking
down the street but it shows a real
image of working class families in
the north, for example, we can see
the terrace houses and is a typical
image of a street in Northern
England and the people that live
there tend to be from working class
families as the houses are very
close together which somehow
connotes the bond which Billy has
with ballet and what his father has
for the mining union.

5. Narrative
The narrative is extremely important within a
British Social Realism film the reason for this is
because it needs seem as natural as possible
which is why they normally follow Todorovs theory,
for example they tend to follow the idea of having
a state of equilibrium at the start which in the case
of Billy Elliot is when he is boxing however, the
next stage is that there is a disruption of the
equilibrium which would be that Billy wants to take
up Ballet dancing but his father and brother
disapprove which causes trouble within the family
and then there is the stage of recognising there as
been a disruption which is where Billy’s dance
teacher takes the role as the problem solver and
brings the family closer to acceptance, the final
stage is the actual acceptance of the new
equilibrium which is shown when Billy is
performing and his father and brother are proud.

6. Dialogue
 One of the most important things about British Social Realism films is that they need
to be realistic, which most directors use the narrative and the issues explored to
determine whether or not it is realistic. However, I believe dialogue is extremely
important when trying to get across the characters so the audience can engage with
them more, here are some quotes from Billy Elliot which actually help determine
stereotypes and representations of different social groups.
 “lads do football, or boxing or wrestling” this quote is said by Billy’s father
representing a certain social class, for example, Billy’s father is very traditional in the
sense that he has a working class background and is represented as a typical cold
hearted father who cares more about what people would think of his son as a dancer
rather then showing support towards his son as he wouldn’t want his son to be like a
‘girl’ however, throughout the film Jackie starts to warm to the idea of his son being a
ballet dancer which breaks down
 “Just because I like to dance, I’m not a poof” – Homophobic comments were not
uncommon amongst people in the 80s, in fact it more common to be homophobic as
a lot of people misunderstood it. In addition to this, in the 80s the UK built the first
AIDs trust to help people who suffer with it, a lot of people felt that ‘AIDs came from
gay people’ the term ‘poof’ or ‘puff’ as southerners would know it was a term used at
men who acted feminine and it was ultimately frowned upon. So an act such as
dancing was seen as very feminine and most men thought that if you dance then you
may be gay.